One Orange Nashty

Carol & Jerry Reitter's '53 Nashamino

If Flash Gordon tooled around in an automobile instead of a space ship, how might it look? That obtuse question probably never crossed your mind, unless you attended the Goodguys’ PPG 2003 Nationals in Columbus, Ohio, last July. Perhaps you saw an orange car or truck cruising the fairgrounds that looked something like a craft Flash might pilot.

Jerry Reitter has a fondness for Chevy El Caminos. Despite this fact, he has never owned one, even though he has enjoyed more than 30 years in the old car and truck hobby as a builder and driver of drag racing machines, as well as a craftsman of a variety of street rods and hot rods. While on a vacation visit to Elvis Presley’s estate, Graceland, in Memphis, Jerry and his wife, Carol, saw a derelict ’53 Nash two-door station wagon languishing along the roadside. Folks not afflicted with the old car and truck hobby would have simply passed the rusting eyesore without a second thought. Jerry hit the brakes, found the owner, and made a sweet deal. Such is the old car and truck pastime. One man’s rust bucket is another’s eventual show-winner.

Since the Nash was so rough, Jerry decided the wagon should be transformed into a car/truck and named it Nashamino. After dismantling the Nash wagon and sandblasting every body component, Jerry welded a 2×3-inch square tube frame. He installed a Fatman Fabrications Mustang II front suspension and equipped the IFS with Pro Comp shocks and Mustang II coilover springs. The tandem of Heidt’s 2-inch drop spindles and the custom tube frame equalled a 3-inch drop in the front ride height.

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A ’70 Ford LTD 9-inch limited-slip differential was pro-streeted and suspended with Koni coilover rear shock absorbers. GM disc brakes were installed at all four corners. Cooper radials, sized P205/60R15, cover the 15×7-inch front Weld wheels, with Hoosier Pro Street radials, in the P33/18.5R15 variety covering the rear 15×10-inch Weld wheels. To feed his V-8, Jerry sourced a JAZ 15-gallon stainless steel fuel cell and installed it under what became the bed floor. Thanks to careful planning and execution of the custom-crafted chassis, the Nashamino has a 5-inch lower ride height in the rear and 3-inch diminished ride at the nose.

Ronald Conley built and stroked the ’68 Chevy 327ci engine to 330ci. The motor has a 10:1 compression and was constructed with well-known speed shop finery. TRW pistons and rings, a stock steel crankshaft, balanced connecting rods, a Comp Cams roller camshaft, and a Pete Jackson geardrive all made the grade for the rotating assembly.

Better than a master mixologist, or bartender, could concoct a badass boilermaker, an Edelbrock Victor Jr. aluminum intake manifold and an Edelbrock Performer four-barrel carburetor handled the fuel/air mix responsibilities. Brodix aluminum heads increased the mill’s horsepower output and shaved overall weight from the engine and nose, in comparison to Chevy’s stock cast-iron cylinder heads. An ACCEL ignition box and GM HEI ignition spark the well-remade Chevy small-block with the utmost in reliability and precision.

Thanks to being of shiny billet aluminum manufacture, the Summit Racing valve covers and air cleaner housing beautify the Bow Tie powerplant’s top. The owner installed a rebuilt 350, enhanced with a ’98 Pontiac Sunfire shifter, a Dodge van trans cooler, and a 2,800-stall converter to transfer power.

When the time came to rebuild and produce the exterior, the owner’s talents played a role. Jerry sectioned the nose and cab 2 inches and channeled it 4 inches over the frame. He lopped off the wagon’s top and constructed a pro-street tubbed bed floor from sheetmetal. Extending the cab’s roof was next. From its fiberglass skin down to its 1/4-inch steel skeletal structure, the tonneau was also handformed.

Jerry fabricated the Flash Gordon-esque/Art Deco sheetmetal fenderwell shrouds. Narrowed and flipped upside-down, both the front and rear bumpers came next. The stock taillights also did a 180, but only after the owner squirted the Nashamino in an appealing PPG hue, Orange Pearl. Tinted windows replaced the Nashty’s stock glass. From the owner’s crafty hands came an exterior of an otherworldly appearance.

Jerry commissioned David Christy of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, to create and upholster the interior in the same ultra-modern, out-of-this world theme. Right before the upholsterer performed his magic, the owner sourced a ’98 Pontiac Sunfire console, modified it extensively, and custom-crafted a sleek dashboard. He modified ’98 Chevy Cavalier seats and had David cover them in beige tweed. The electric motors that power the doors and windows were stored behind access panels to the rear of the bucket seats. An ’80s Cadillac color, beige firemist, was painted on the interior’s metal surfaces. Vintage Air HVAC vents went in the custom console below the dash, while Dakota Digital instruments were installed within the dash, both by the owner.

After 2-1/2 years of painstaking construction, Nashamino was christened, powered up, and sent on its first mission. Unlike Flash Gordon, who flew around the stratosphere exploring weird planets, owners Carol and Jerry Reitter cruise the Nashamino to the big show ‘n’ shines within the South, in search of accolades, smiles, and awards. In the smiles department, they’re successful every time the Nashamino goes on a voyage.

If you ever come up to the Nashamino at a stoplight in your hotted-vintage hauler, and want to race, remember, the Nashamino’s pilot is a former drag racer, so there’s plenty of talent behind the wheel. There’s also a pocket rocket lurking under that modern whimsical exterior to blast you to the Stone Age. So, beware of the friendly little orange craft; it’s one Nashty ride.